Please click to play the waltz, Lost in the Lonesome Pines, to accompany your reading.
Want to take a hayride? Mingle with sheep, goats, chickens, cows, horses, peacocks, pigs, and geese? In New York City? No, this is not a petting zoo.

Welcome to the Queens County Farm Museum, New York City’s largest remaining tract of undisturbed farmland. A working farm dating back to 1697, it encompasses a 47-acre parcel that is the longest continuously farmed site in New York State. The site includes historic farm buildings, a greenhouse complex, livestock, farm vehicles and implements, planting fields, an orchard, and herb garden.

We had a free tour of the Adriance Farmhouse with our guide, Mister Marty. Flemish-styled, the house dates to 1772 and is the centerpiece of the farm complex.

And everything is free – tours, hayride, butterfly garden, and cavorting with the animals. This place came as a huge surprise. I had heard vagaries about a farm somewhere in Queens. Actually, this place is right on a major thoroughfare – 73-50 Little Neck Parkway in Floral Park. It is open 7 days a week, all year. There is admission only on days with special events. See the farm museum website here.

I always relish the opportunity to pet sheep. I had competition with others, however – there was a group of us jockeying for position to get lost in that wool 🙂